This week, Stephen and Daniel celebrate Independence Day the only way they know how: talking about an alternative history where Napoleon defeated the English at Waterloo. It's good stuff.

Also: Sony is discontinuing physical PlayStation discs in 2028, and the bots are taking over the Internet. Plus, an e-paper Game Boy? It's a thing.

Show notes and links:

• Game Boy Emulator on ESP32 + E-Ink (M5Stack PaperS3) — Paper Boy S3 | YouTube
• Cloudflare's New Policy Pushes AI Companies to Pay for Publishers' Content | TechCrunch
• Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles | Sony

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On this week's show, Stephen and Daniel talk about how the rise of AI is killing cheap tech, and that may not be entirely a bad thing (though it's still mostly a bad thing). They talk about the Steam Machine's exorbitant price, and how intra-generational price increases have never really happened like this. Unprecedented times, indeed. Finally, they talk about forming human bonds with AI and how to negotiate that strange and uncomfortable place.

Oh, and there's a bit of talk at the beginning about bowling. If you want to avoid that, skip ahead to 7:39.

Show notes and links:

• The Wholesale Plagiarism of Obscure Sorrows - Waxy
• Blu-ray Disc Turns 20: A Look Back at the Format's Launch Day - The Digital Bits
• Valve Steam Machine: Official Price and Release Date Confirmed - The Verge
• AI Demand Begins to Justify Massive Cost of Data-Center Buildout - Bloomberg ($)
• Hivemind – AI-Powered Intelligent Narrator for Shared Storytelling

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This week, Stephen and Daniel compare their delicate wrists while showing off the Pebble Time 2, and debate nostalgia projects done right versus *very* wrong.

Plus, can chatbots actually be made safe for kids? These parents aren't so sure.

Show notes and links:

• Pebble Time 2 Review – A Redditor's Real-World Take (r/pebble)
• Pebble Time 2 Review: Resurrection Time (MrMobile on YouTube)
• U.S. Government Forces Anthropic to Pull Fable 5 and Mythos 5 Over National Security Concerns
• Anthropic Shuts Down Fable 5 & Mythos 5 Over U.S. Export Control Order — A Sovereign AI Wake-Up Call
• Apple's Price Increases Are Coming — Blame the AI Memory Crunch
• Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact (Pew Research Center)

Feedback or comments? Email us at theoldscoolcast@gmail.com

Find us on Instagram @theoldscoolcast too.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.